10 WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
JEREMY HARRIS

STAR-BULLETIN / 2002 A solemn-looking Mayor Jeremy Harris looked over his prepared remarks May 30 inside his "outer" office at Honolulu Hale minutes before announcing to the media that he would be dropping out of the governor's race.

Harris had effect for
what he did not do

He opted not to run for governor
and changed the entire political season

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Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

It's not what he did, but what he didn't do that put Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris on this year's list of "10 Who Made a Difference."

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The Star-Bulletin is spotlighting 10 people who have made a difference in the community during 2002. This year's 10 is a diverse group but all have one thing in common: Each had a devotion to their cause and made a profound impact on Hawaii.

When Harris announced on May 30 that he was pulling out of the governor's race, he set off a political chain reaction that ended with the November election of Linda Lingle as Hawaii's first Republican governor in four decades.

Harris' abrupt departure left Democrats without a presumed front-runner and top fund-raiser. The move also ended the mayoral campaigns of several top Democrats, including City Councilman Duke Bainum, former City Prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro, ex-City Councilman Mufi Hannemann and former Lt. Gov. Mazie Hirono, who later re-entered the governor's race only to lose to Lingle.

Harris, whose term as mayor expires in 2005, said at the time that he believed he could not win, citing polls showing him 22 points behind Lingle.

Harris' campaign also faced intense scrutiny during the past year. He has denied wrongdoing in the following controversies:

>> Prosecutor Peter Carlisle's criminal investigation into the awards of nonbid city contracts to donors to the Harris campaign.

The investigation, which began in January, has resulted in criminal charges against executives at SSFM International Inc., an engineering firm, and the arrest of city Community Services Department Director Mike Amii for allegedly conducting campaign work on city time.

>> A lawsuit by former state Sen. and retired state Judge Russell Blair, charging that Harris should have resigned as mayor when he filed organizational papers with the state Campaign Spending Commission for the governor's race in May 2001.

State Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna ruled in Blair's favor in March. The ruling was reversed by the state Supreme Court on May 7. But Harris supporters said the campaign lost ground while they voluntarily suspended activities for two months waiting for the Supreme Court's decision.

Harris also has faced a number of legal challenges by the state Campaign Spending Commission, which has been investigating his campaign for more than 18 months.

The commission has fined more than a dozen contributors for giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in alleged excess contributions to the Harris campaign.